Episode discussion post: "Travel Agents"

[jae]

Aired:
27 April 2016 in the U.S. and Canada

This is a discussion post for episode 407 of The Americans, intended for viewers who are watching the show on the U.S./Canadian schedule. (Feel free to dive in to the discussion even if you're coming in late--and you should also feel free to start a new thread if it seems too daunting to read through what's already been posted first. If you're reading this at a point where you've already seen subsequent episodes, though, please take care to keep comments spoiler-free of anything that comes after season four, episode seven.)

Original promo trailer

"The Americans 4x07 Promo "Travel Agents" (HD)" (Watch on YouTube)

Overnight reviews

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Comments

P & E

[maidenjedi]

I still haven't come down from the tension in this episode! But one scene stood out over every other scene - Philip told Elizabeth he loves her and made as clear as he possibly can, he is siding with her, despite everything.

That was just so huge a moment for these two, I was jumping out of my seat.

Re: P & E

[theplatonicnonyeah]

Yeah.
Has he ever actually said "I love you" to her? Or at least in that way?

Re: P & E

[jae]

I agree that it was significant, but I still think she doesn't 100% believe him, and that's significant too.

I'll probably have more to say after I've watched it again, but Elizabeth is kind of killing me this season. It's not even a matter of getting "softer", it's like she's starting to think being with her isn't good for Philip, and she keeps trying to offer him various "outs".

-J

general comment

[theplatonicnonyeah]

I kept thinking of these lyrics that I can't remember what song their from:
"She did it all for love."
Because essentially, Martha sacrificed everything for love and it was all in vain.
Some of her last words in the episode: "I'll be alone. Just the way it was before I met you."

The women on this show are so complex! Wonderfully written three-dimensional characters. And most of the time they're much smarter than the men. Elizabeth asks if Philip would go with Martha, if things were different. He is so bewildered by her even asking, but she knows more than he does, because what he has with Martha "is different".

I love those intimate moments between Martha and Philip, where she asks for more and more details about him. It's so heartbreaking watching her piece the lie together and yet still holding out hope that they will be together in the end.

Other details:
Wasn't that golden heart locket they found in Martha's flat originally Elizabeth's?
The CGI in that one scene when Elizabeth was making a phone call from a booth was terrible. A first!
Silly rhyme: Gaad is sad.

Re: general comment

[selenak]

Wasn't that golden heart locket they found in Martha's flat originally Elizabeth's?

Oh, good catch! So it was.

Because essentially, Martha sacrificed everything for love and it was all in vain.

Yes. And she's still not blaming Philip. No "you did this to me, you destroyed me!" outburst.

Re: P&E II

[sistermagpie]

I wouldn't say Elizabeth knew more than Philip there. Her view of the P&M relationship was completely distorted by her jealousy and always had been. He was actually very confident about his feelings--he knew he didn't want to go to Moscow with Martha, he knew how his feelings for Martha were "different" than his feelings for Elizabeth.

That locket was definitely Elizabeth's originally and that phone booth scene was terrible!

Gaad is saad

[jae]

And I think it was Alan Sepinwall who was spelling it that way. :)

-J

Re: general comment

[quantumreality]

That phone scene looked a lot like they just unrolled some kind of backdrop behind a prop pay phone, heh.

My review

[selenak]

Man, or rather woman hunt time. This one put most of the other subplots on hold in order to focus on one, and a nailbiter of an episode was the result.

Martha: still a dead woman walking. I can't help myself, when Tatiana told Oleg she had a pilot and later dictated her memo about the delivery of the biological disease infested rat (and nothing else), I automatically assumed this means they'll kill Martha as soon as she's on the plane (if she ever gets there). At this point, the only thing that makes me hope for her survival is the relative closeness of Nina's death, and the fact that the show did the "you think she's getting extracted, but she's actually getting executed"' thing already in season 1 with Robert's wife. At this point, Martha's survival, not her death, would be the shocking twist.

Not that living in the Soviet Union with no knowledge of Russian and no liking for the place, knowing that the person you ruined your life for never loved you the way you loved him and that you'll never see him again is a great prospect for Martha right now. Although I'm glad that, completely impractical as it was, Philip gave her the gift of truth at last, first by telling her his true name (or names) when she asked, and then later not manipulating her further with false hope about a life together but making it clear that she won't see him again. Paradoxically, this is the greatest example of him actually caring about her he could give.

Martha's reaction when she hears "Clark's" voice on the phone mid episode is very telling; she had convinced herself that something happened to him/was done to him, she had cast him as a fellow victim, not as a part of the apparatus who chose to go off on another mission. And after this illusion crumbles, she meets Elizabeth (in her Jennifer get up) again in Philip's place. And gets suckerpunched emotionally and literally. Incidentally, I think that Elizabeth, despite her own issues re: Martha and Philip, still never gets unprofessional with Martha and is even kind (denying she and Philip have a sexual relationship when Martha asks) is as good example of her competence as any.

Elizabeth is supportive of Philip through the episode, but you can see the insecurity rising in her eyes, and thus we eventually get that short, intense scene where she asks him whether if Henry and Paige were grown up, he would go back to Russia with Martha, and says she'd understand if he would. It's the awareness that Philip wants to get out coupled with the awareness he's come to care for Martha in a real, not faked way, added with the complication that she knows by the standards of their work she shouldn't be jealous (this isn't some affair Philip started because he felt like it, it was a job of the type the two of them do all the time) and, I suspect, the memory of Gregory, because this, too, started as work (Gregory was her first recruited asset) and she came to care for him as a person, enough to go through a moment of wanting to run before Paige was born (but not after). Plus there's the way Philip shields himself through his various personae which is just different from how Elizabeth operates. There's a part of him that's unknowable in a way there isn't with her. So, the question is irrational from the viewer's pov, but not from Elizabeth's's emotional logic. And I don't think Philip realised this until now (i.e. that she has this insecurities), because to him, the fact he's currently staying for her as well as for the kids, that he loves her above and beyond anyone else, is such a given that he didn't see the need to voice it before in as many words.

Meanwhile, at the FBI: if Gaad isn't truly for the chops after this, I'll cry foul, not because I dislike the character (Arkady is the best boss, obviously, but I enjoy Gaad, too, and wish we'd get more Arkady and Gaad scenes because their two in s2 were golden!), but because after all that happened already, the thing with Martha really would end his career for good in any realistic scenario. I also appreciate the way he and Stan are becoming aware that they didn't really know Martha at all, and that this is because they didn't want to; she basically was a part of the inventory.

Stan's showing signs of better people skills, though, by stating that Oleg would balk if at this point blackmailed openly with the tape they have on him (presumably of his conversation with Stan re: Svetlana), and that they need to play the long game with him. I'm really curious when he does intend to spring the "surprise, you're an FBI asset now" news on Oleg, mind you.

The episode also offers the first scene since season 1 where Henry, Matthew and Paige are in the same room together, hanging out while their parents are busy spying. It's the only glimpse we get at them in this episode and oddly endearing. Matthew and Paige both carefully measuring the bit of beer they're letting Henry drink made me smile. Not that I didn't also feel for Matthew, destined to spend his alloted days with his father with the kids next door instead, one of whom used to have a crush on him (but no more), and the other getting along far better with his father than he does.

Elizabeth's insecurity

[lovingboth]

Yes, now you mention that, it's an acknowledgement that she'd have gone off with Gregory at the end of her mission. Certainly then and possibly - if he were still alive - now.

While watching thoughts

[lovingboth]

Seems a complicated exit plan to me, but...

Hasn't Gabriel called anyone in the past 40 minutes??

This is Philip showing how little he knows about Martha.

'She's seen your face' = 'She needs to be dead', even before Gabriel's line about having no choice if she won't go quietly.

I wonder why no-one mentioned her office as somewhere she might go.

It wasn't Philip's fault, it was Gabriel's.

Martha's walked out into a 1970s paranoia film!

Good job a tapped phone got Martha before Stan gets in deep trouble for refusing an order.

'The person before me' - so do they only have one call centre?!

Asking if she's called anyone else would have been a sensible move...

Martha's just so out of it, Elizabeth needs to..

.. ah, she has :)

But it does leave Philip in a mess. Shouting 'Martha' in the park is one way to get him caught.

Gaad is clearly demob happy.

Hmm, I'm feeling a bit cheated by cutting the period between Philip's phone call and arriving at the safe house.

What is Philip's name?

Elizabeth encouraging Philip to lie to Martha, when he's past doing so.

No, of course he wouldn't go 'back'. Both Philip and I don't understand why Elizabeth is so worried.

How often do they say 'I love you' to each other?

Why is Stan so unbelieving of what Gaad has realised?

What Elizabeth fails to realise is that Philip can care about Martha while still ending it: sending her off to be without him, and without lying to her about that.

.. but all the showing us how they'd get her out makes me ever surer that Martha's heading for suicide, not the Soviet Union.

Re: While watching thoughts

[sistermagpie]

This is Philip showing how little he knows about Martha.

I don't think he knew that little about Martha. He had no idea where she would go in this situation, but that's not knowing her well. He actually did know plenty of places she liked. There was just nothing that automatically said "this is where I'd go if I ran away from the KGB." Elizabeth probably wouldn't have been able to answer those questions about Philip either.

In fact, I feel like it's another one of those great answers to the way things usually work on TV where people always magically know exactly where someone would go when they're upset, as if people have places for that.

How often do they say 'I love you' to each other?

Never. Philip said it, I think, twice in Season 1. That's it.

Why is Stan so unbelieving of what Gaad has realised?

I think he was just trying to be nice. It was his version of "I'll follow you to Moscow and we'll be together one day!"

Some odd details in the search of Martha's place

[lovingboth]

I'm presuming that this is from someone's personal experience but..

.. melting ice cubes with a hair dryer?

What's the rush and what transparent object are they wondering might be in them?

I laughed at the way it was a (the only?) woman taking the tampons apart to search those.

And at the way so much was left on the shelves while they examined such improbable places.

Re: Some odd details in the search of Martha's place

[saraqael]

I'm sure they melted the ice cubes to see if there were any microchips/other tiny things frozen into the ice.

[saraqael]

It's so sad, and so very true to the spirit of this show, that the most honest, caring, intimate thing that Philip (Clark/Misha/Mikhail) said to Martha was that he would never join her in Russia. She will never see him again. She's going to be utterly alone in Soviet Russia for the rest of her life. No pretend husband. No family. No friends. Not even able to speak the language. A traitor to her own country and an isolated alien in her pending new life.

Hey, Martha! Thanks for playing Sucker-Punched: You've Been Duped! Your prize is a one-way ticket to despair and oblivion. Enjoy your flight (P.S.: Do not open the jar in the seat next to you.)(P.P.S: If the co-pilot beckons you to come over to the airplane door and look out the window at the pretty view of the ocean, kindly decline.)

I felt so bad for Elizabeth when she bravely and tenderly told Philip that it would be okay for him to join Martha in Russia once the kids were grown. It was obvious to her just how much Philip cared about Martha. It seemed to me that she was quite hurt when Philip described taking Martha on picnics or for strolls in the park or to the zoo, etc., all of the normal, happy things that couples do (unless the couple happens to be KGB illegals in a fake/real marriage/mission). She clearly thought that Philip felt the same sort of romantic/soulmate sort of love that she felt for Gregory.

But of course he didn't. His reaction - Are you crazy? - was spot on. He may have come to love Martha in a way (like a pet as I said in a previous post), but he was never _in love_ with her. How could he be? Martha did not know him at all. She was in love with a fantasy persona that he created just for her. I think that he enjoyed being Clark Westerfeld up to a point, but the strain of maintaining that fake/real relationship was making him crazy, too. I don't recall if Philip has ever even clearly declared, "I love you," to Elizabeth, but I was so relieved that he told her at that moment because she certainly needed to hear it and he needed to say it.

Not entirely sure what the point of the scene of the latchkey spy kids all sharing a beer at Stan's house was supposed to be, but I'm sure it's a portent of something bad.

Portent of something bad

[lovingboth]

Stan taking more of an interest in his neighbours.

Sistermagpie's thoughts on first watch Travel Agents

[sistermagpie]

Well, wow. That was emotional. Can't even remember some of my thoughts!

The kids scene, I definitely thought it was interesting that Paige was "not checking IDs" and asking for beer. Because I thought, wow, that's pretty much exactly what I think the kids in her church group would think she should do. I didn't take it as a big step into debauchery or anything, but she seemed like a teenager who'd ended her last phase and was ready to try something else on for size. She's been holding on to her straight and narrow persona for a while now.

This was almost the only time I can remember her interacting with Henry where she wasn't scolding him or being a mom. I thought she would do that when she came to say she made dinner, but instead she just let herself be a regular teenager instead of being all responsible.

That, more than anything else, made her seem more mature than she ever had.

I'd argued with someone in the past about Henry going to Stan because Stan was apparently this 9-5 ordinary dad, so I really love that Matthew's return to Stan's life is, in fact, same old same old. Matthew scenes are still mostly there to tell us that the other one isn't there. Two Matthew scenes, both with Stan at work--at least once leaving until morning. (The Jennings, btw, have actually gotten several family scenes recently with at least one parent home.) We're still seeing them out of the house, but they've gotten Henry into scenes.

Now, onto everyone else. Wow. Love the two scenes with Philip with Elizabeth and with Martha. Even to the end the Martha/Philip relationship is outside of Elizabeth. He's not in love with her, she's not a threat, but he's connected to her. One of my favorite things is that while he didn't do as Elizabeth suggested and lie to her--basically treating her like a dog who thinks he's going to the park when he's really dropping her off at the pound--but instead tries to encourage her by saying that she will be respected in Russia, that her sacrifice will be known.

Which is really Philip saying that this is ultimately what he sees in her: he respects her greatly and will never forget her sacrifice. And he, more than anyone, knows what that sacrifice was and what it was for. Not the cause, but Clark.

I thought that was just such a sweet thing given how elsewhere the FBI were rummaging through her whole life and realizing they never saw her for who she was. Not enough to make up for, well, anything, but a genuine attempt to give her something. It's good to remember that marriage to Clark actually was good for Martha at first.

Interesting to look for parallels with Nina. Neither Stan nor Philip betrayed their country for their (originally unwilling) asset, but Philip forced the KGB's hand to protect her where Stan couldn't or wouldn't do the same with the FBI. He instead flirted with treason--but ultimately it seems like Stan never really saw Nina. He still seems like he sees her as just a symbol of what she meant to him. Of course Martha is also symbolic for Philip, but I do think he's seeing her as an individual for whom he has understanding and respect.

It's weird because I guess both men did cross lines for the woman, and also for themselves, but I feel like Philip's was more about Martha than Stan's was about Nina as the two actually were. I guess because Stan's relationship with Nina was always so seemingly based on cliches rather than real understanding to me.

Philip's incredulous reassurance to Elizabeth that he's not interested in her that way was really satisfying having read a lot of comments from people who think he's in love with Martha. But as said above, it's also interesting seeing Elizabeth not get it. (I am a little disturbed by people shipping Clark/Martha.)

It's cool to think about the whole arc of this relationship for Elizabeth--and how it ended (well, it's not quite over yet-plenty of time for major tragedy next week-I kind of don't want Martha to get to Russia) with Philip coming clean with both women, telling Martha and Elizabeth both that no, he's not about spending his life with Martha.

Elizabeth's just tried so many ways to get into their relationship. She tried making jokes about it, doing sex roleplay to be with "Clark," tried to talk to Philip about it as an agent (saying it was okay he had feelings for her). But I think all of the ways she presented it he didn't get it. He seemed to always see her as mocking him or criticizing him and he'd get defensive, which to her read like he was protecting Martha from her or whatever. (And he probably was a bit, but not in the way she thought.)

So it was great for her to finally put it in the right way that he could just answer it directly. Also a neat mirror to her own marriage, which was also "for show." And given who Philip is, it's just always believable that she'll feel like she's not getting something. I've complained before--and probably will again--that we still know almost NOTHING about Philip, but it really does make Elizabeth's insecurity more believable.

I mean, I was thinking in this ep how different it would play if we knew Philip the way we know Elizabeth. Granted it seems like her feelings are often more straightforward. But knowing some of her formative moments, her background. I feel like a lot of Philip's actions would play differently if it were rooted in a specific backstory.

But that puts me, anyway, in a similar position to Elizabeth. I can see Philip feeling all over the place, I can see the things in his present life that he's reacting to, I've picked out certain patterns, of course, but if I were Elizabeth I can see not really getting where this stuff is coming from. Like she's accepted that he gets all rebellious about protecting his kids but then...what exactly is this woman sparking in him to make him go nuts? After all these years? She might just look at it and see another fake marriage that became real.

I'm thinking, too, of that thing Zhukov said to her about loving his dog because he cared for it. That applies to Martha, but Elizabeth would maybe have good reason to question whether it applies to her as well. Maybe Philip would have loved any person he was assigned to long ago. She once said to Claudia she didn't believe Zhukov loved her because she (maybe like Elizabeth) wasn't lovable (not she here again had to say Claudia was "like her"). With Gregory, he was always very open about exactly what he loved about Elizabeth and it was stuff she understood--she was strong, she was loyal to the cause. Philip just seems to love her for unspecified reasons including stuff she doesn't like about herself.

In the first season she kicks him out to try to get control of her own emotions and he winds up still being there for her regardless. She seems to be kind of frightened of her dependence on him.

Plus Philip handles jealousy so differently than she does. He was jealous of Gregory, but his reaction was to say "fine, see him whenever you want." Like he's always ready to give up. (Reminds me of Paige in S1 saying of Matthew "If he's not into me he's not into me--I'm not going to play games.") He just retreats instead of coming out fighting, I think from her pov.

Oh, and last week I was lying awake wondering if Stan would see that necklace on Elizabeth in a picture or something!

Philip and Elizabeth reacting differently to jealousy

[jae]

He was jealous of Gregory, but his reaction was to say "fine, see him whenever you want." Like he's always ready to give up.

Well, except that line was delivered in a really nasty, angry, accusing way. He was willing to "let" her have him, but not without her knowing full well how upset he was about it.

Which, too, is a complete contrast to Elizabeth's "noble, self-sacrificing" attitude about Martha.

-J

That phone booth

[sistermagpie]

Oh, and I forgot, the CGI or whatever it was in that shot where Elizabeth in the phone booth was hilariously fake. It was like she was in a Hitchcock film. I half-expected a seagull to come smashing into the glass!

Re: That phone booth

[lovingboth]

Is this about the reflection?

[soupytwist]

I loved this episode and am now a floating miasma of Marthafeels. OMG. OMG. But I am going to try to take this relatively analytically...

I love Oleg. I love how visibly he feels better for doing SOMETHING, anything. The show hasn't even had to explicitly say that. It's just clear.

...does the FBI only have one meeting room? I realise it's an emergency, Gaad, but you'd hope they'd have more than one place for people to talk privately!

Gaad's absolute conviction - even before they know about the marriage - that Martha's with a KGB agent is deliberately flagged up by Stan, here. I found that interesting. I don't think we're going to have Gaad Complete Meltdown Hour, but that and Gaad's little "I'm totally done here, you get that, right?" moment was...pointed.

I love that it is visibly really weird for the FBI crew to be searching Martha's place. The tampons were an extra nice touch, like, man, you know somebody must have actually hidden something in a tampon once and now the FBI have it on their list that they have to check EVERY TIME.

'Clark' is disintegrating and Phillip's job troubles are coming to light. That sounds harsh but I really think it's part of why Elizabeth tries so hard this episode to be nice to Philip, to give him a way out. I think seeing this has made her realise the depth of the issues, and that talking about him going back is the only way she has to do that.

I don't think she really, seriously believes he loves Martha more (although she does seem to have had some jealousy): I think it's more like going, oh, shit, all the stuff I was so worried about was actually coming from a WAY DEEPER PLACE. She already knew Philip had concerns, but a lot of his more difficult emotional wrangling has not been stuff she's been there to see. Mentioning Est sort of gave her an idea there was something to look for, but this, this is the actual emotional minefield, right here. How to be a good person, how to have emotional connections with others, when your entire life is based around a lie. (And sometimes involves killing people.) And both Philip and Elizabeth do what they can, in their own way, to be good people and to be good to each other.

(I am bowled over that for Philip, that's telling some of the hard truths and giving Martha his Russian name. And for Elizabeth, it's punching not shooting Martha and telling Philip she can understand why he might want to leave.)

As well as their personal stuff, I think both Jennings' were on top professional form in some ways. Phillip asking for maps etc is awesome, and while yelling for Martha in a park was not so great, given everything (and especially given how quick the FBI were at finding Martha) they did really well. I was impressed that Philip knew it was Elizabeth on the phone before she spoke, too: because it was on the half-hour, presumable.

I also want borscht now. Noooom.

MARTHA GIRL YOU IN TROUBLE. Alison Wright was sodding amazing. I love how she's not stupid, or pathetic, but suddenly Martha looks a lot younger. They framed, very viscerally, the panic and fear of a woman who is smart, who is nice, who wants SO BADLY to believe in this relationship she's sacrificed everything for... who is completely out of her depth. Ringing her mum is so sad. Martha is trying SO HARD to do right, but she's just never experienced anything like this. She doesn't have any of the context or experience that might help, at all. She just wants Clark to be real, and she knows he's not.

I was very glad Martha didn't jump, because I did think that was possible. But oh man, I do NOT want my beloved show, which only had three regular women main characters, to be down to ONE. I love Elizabeth, of course I do, she's amazing, but if we DO lose Martha this season then I desperately hope we get at least one more woman come to the front in the story department.

Other random notes:

Stan doesn't notice the beer? Henry, you have totally never drunk beer before. I saw you pull a face! Also, the 'my sister gets a drink' face s hilarious.

Philip, honey, I love you, but if you want to reassure Martha, lying awake and staring at the ceiling IN YOUR CLOTHES might not be the best way to do it.

Women main characters

[jae]

I can't see them keeping Martha as a main character into next season even if she does survive this--the story just doesn't point that way. But I definitely agree that there will be a woman-shaped void to fill once she's gone.

-J

What the FBI think about Martha

[jae]

I was initially blown away that they would think Martha was "bad" from the start, and I felt so offended on her behalf that their thoughts would go in that direction. But of course the sensible thing to think is that she knew all along that he was KGB and went along with his nefarious plans with full knowledge. It's much less weird than what actually happened.

-J

Re: What the FBI think about Martha

[theplatonicnonyeah]

I'm assuming this is because at that time they didn't know the KGB (and Stasi) actually did these type of things. Unless the FBI did it also?

Joan the switchboard operator

[jae]

I love so much that this show is taking the care to make Joan a person with a full life even in just the short moments we see her (and even though what would have likely been a much deeper line of discussion was cut short by a phone call). This show isn't always good at that--we've had at least a couple of minor characters who never quite rose above being "just any old person"--but when they do it well, they do it VERY well.

-J

Re: Joan the switchboard operator

[theplatonicnonyeah]

It makes you wonder if she ever goes outside.

Two things about the Vox recap

[jae]

... which is over here (incidentally--I'm really loving their technique of doing recaps as a conversation between multiple critics!).

Anyway, at one point in the recap, Libby says that the FBI now have a sketch that looks more like Philip than the old one. My read is that the sketch looks a LOT more like CLARK than the old one, but it still doesn't look any more like Philip.

And in response to this line from Amanda Taub: I think Philip's refusal to lie to Martha is his way of ending things with her — his way of putting a stop to making it real. And it's not real. "Clark" doesn’t exist. A moment of honesty might as well be a divorce.

Me, I read it not as a divorce, but as a product of his guilt. Like he's thinking: "I've treated this very nice woman so badly, and now I can't even give her any of the things she most wants. But I can at least give her some truths."

What did the rest of you think?

-J

Re: Two things about the Vox recap

[sistermagpie]

Yeah, I thought it was about respect. Lying to someone makes them look stupid, even if you're doing it for a good reason. This, btw, is why I'm sometimes disturbed by people shipping Clark/Martha or calling Martha the "better" wife. It's like a totally Victorian view of marriage where the man lives in the dirty, sinful world and gets up to god knows what while the woman embodies Victorian feminine values like love and sweetness and innocence and maternal things.

By telling her the truth he was treating her as an equal and I thought that was on his mind. Like he said to her, even if it was just wishful thinking, in Russia she would be seen as he saw her, with respect for her and her sacrifice. He couldn't bear for even to the end to be tricking her and using things in her that he respected and that were valuable against her.

I don't think it ends things in that it makes Clark not real. I think it just kills false hope and sets her free to make her life as best she can. Elizabeth's suggestion was better for making her docile and make things easier for Clark in the shortrun. His way was to make it easier for Martha in the longrun. He still kept some truths to himself, but I think he told her the right ones.

Truth is pretty much established as the most valuable thing people have in this world. For somebody like Philip it's almost the only thing he has.

How/when Martha knew "Clark" was actually Russian

[jae]

One of my "gasp" moments during the episode was the moment where Martha asked Philip his name, and when he replied 'Philip', she didn't take that for an answer. At some point along the line she'd realized she was dealing not with an American-born "traitor" KGB agent, but with an actual Russian.

So my first thought was: HOW on EARTH? Because it's not like Soviet illegals were a commonly-discussed topic among ordinary middle-class women back in the 80s--remember back in early season 1, even Amador thought they were just a rumour. So then I thought she had to have been actually reading some of the information she was passing on to Clark, at least some of which clearly had to do with illegals (William, if no one else). But in this interview (which does not have any additional spoilers despite being from a site called "spoilertv"), it seems to not have occurred to Alison Wright that Martha might have been exposed to information about KGB spies from cases. In which case, how would Martha have figured that out?

-J

Re: How/when Martha knew "Clark" was actually Russian

[sistermagpie]

That completely threw me. I can only assume that Martha knew about the Illegals program from work because despite the fact that the undercover secret Russian spy was a movie cliche, I can't see why a regular person would think he was Russian.

It's the only thing that makes sense because there's zero tells that any of these people are Russian despite working for the KGB. I think as Stan got more obsessed with the Illegals Martha came to know about them.

Martha's Choices

[sistermagpie]

Elsewhere people were talking about how Philip destroyed Martha, crushed her soul. And I thought...I don't know about that.

I hold Philip totally responsible for the whole Martha situation, of course. The fact that Martha fell for his lies doesn't make him not the person trying to get her to fall for his lies.

But I think if you look at Martha's choices, I don't know if it's as simple as people often describe it where she's just "lonely" and so she fell for it. Lots of people are lonely but would not fall for this particular set up.

I feel like Martha's choices always contained some knowledge of risk. From the start Clark was supposed to be forbidden and that was part of the appeal. She bugged her boss's office despite probably knowing that was not on the up and up (witness her reaction when the bug is caught--not just scared like her colleagues will be mad but terrified like she's been bugging the FBI office). She chose Clark after learning he wasn't with the CIA and even asked not to be told everything so she could push that day of reckoning off. She chose Clark after he killed Gene--not just because she was trapped by then--she was eager for this to make them closer. She chose Clark when he revealed he'd been in disguise since she met him.

Basically I think a lot of Martha's life says that she always wanted a dramatic life. Didn't Philip even talk about her mother being sick and Martha worrying that this meant she would have to go home to take care of her? (Iow, not Martha the natural caretaker, but Martha wanting to be in the city.) She mentioned her parents always having her room ready and Martha wanting them to redecorate--I think that room for her recommended total failure.

Martha's life is a grand tragedy now, but I'm not so sure she would prefer that to a life of lonely nothingness. I don't believe Martha's problem was just that she was lonely. She could probably have settled for a lot of people. But she wanted romance and she got it. She got a top level romance.

It makes me think of Nina, actually. I often felt Stan sort of cast Nina in the role of his damsel in distress romance heroine because she looked the part, despite Nina actually being more practical and ultimately not about romance but survival (first trying to stay alive, then trying to stay whole). Meanwhile he (and others) failed to see that Martha is the actual Anna Karenina of the office, throwing all caution to the wind for her hot, forbidden secret boyfriend.

I have a hard time imagining Martha in Moscow. I wonder if part of the reason she was so calm about it is that she sees her story is now over and is planning to maybe die at some point. Maybe leaving first.

It would make sense if Philip got this that he'd know the one thing to never tell her is about Elizabeth.

Because Philip actually made similar choices to Martha in this ep. When he told Elizabeth he preferred the quickly approaching tragedy of their life to a settled life with a woman who loves him...that's a tragic heroine move. (In fact, Philip even possibly made a little subtle allusion to AK back when he proposed to Martha.)

Re: Martha's Choices

[jae]

If there's anything I've learned from alllll of the interviews that have been done with Alison Wright over the past few weeks and all of the retweeted comments about her performance that I've seen fly past on Twitter (none of which I begrudge her at all, by the way--she has earned her day in the sun), it's that there are A LOT of women who regard Martha as their entrance into the show, and who identify with her to the exclusion of everyone else. That's the explanation for the whole "you crushed her soul!" attitude, I think.

If anything, I think Philip and Martha have a lot more in common in this respect than either of them realizes. They both have gone into an increasingly bad series of bad situations with their eyes at least partially open, and they both have a lot of guilt and regret over their parts in making terrible things happen as a result.

-J

Treon's thoughts

[treonb]

The phone lady is an illegal - I had no idea. And I was starting to get upset that she's lecturing Philip about how best to eat borscht (and that Philip shows up as himself, and that she knows him, and a whole lot of other things that didn't make sense)

I loved Matthew's comment about Stan and the beer. Stan might be an FBI agent, but he barely notices what goes on in his own house. Not to mention his KGB neighbor/friends.

I agree with Philip, Elizabeth is crazy. I was as confused as Philip when she started talking about him going away with Martha.

There were so many points where Martha could have killed herself, or Elizabeth could have killed her (she definitely considered it) - I'd be pretty disappointed if she ends up killing herself. With the effort the Rezidentura is putting into getting her to Moscow, I also find it hard to believe that they'll kill her.

I was pretty sure Martha would still be alive at the end of the episode, but when Elizabeth and Philip were talking about Martha, I almost thought Martha would overhear them and we'd hear a gunshot and that would be that. It's scary having that discussion with a skittish Martha upstairs.

Martha' sketch is so horrible, I suppose they're not going to put much trust in the Philip sketch.

I feel bad for Gaad, I hope they don't kick him off the show. Though, as he said, he's pretty much dead by now.

Joan the switchboard operator

[jae]

What made you think Joan the switchboard operator was an illegal? I didn't get that impression.

-J

"I love you"

[treonb]

There was a discussion above about P&E saying "I love you".

I was going over the subtitle files and it's interesting that while Elizabeth never said "I love you", Gabriel said it. In 3x09 he tries to convince Philip that Elizabeth really wanted him and he says "Elizabeth loves you. I love you."

It makes it even more glaring that Elizabeth never says it.

Also, while Philip tells Elizabeth a few times that he loves her, he tells Martha that many more times, and she tells him back. In a twisted way, Philip had a far healthier relationship with Martha.

Re: "I love you"

[saraqael]

I think that Philip had a more communicative relationship with Martha, but not necessarily a healthier relationship because all of the love, devotion, and emotion was based on lies.

I think the stress of keeping up this intensely false emotional relationship contributed to Philip's current despair just as much as all of the murders and violence he committed has done to him. It's no wonder the man is burned out. Through all of it, he comes home to the woman he does love, but who he can still barely express himself to for myriads of reasons. And she has yet to say 'I love you' back to him, for myriads of reasons of her own.

Philip and Elizabeth's marriage started out every bit as fake as Clark and Martha's marriage. It was an assignment. They never had a formal ceremony. For all I know, they aren't even legally married in a technical sense. (Has that ever been established?)

From our perspective as viewers, Philip has been in this fake relationship with Martha for almost as long as we've seen him in his relationship with Elizabeth. Now that Martha is almost out of the story, Philip has openly declared his love for Elizabeth. How long before she will say 'I love you' to him in return? What will their relationship look like once Martha is truly gone out of his/their lives?

Why Moscow?

[treonb]

Philip is trying to convince Martha she'd have a 'respectable and honorable' life in Moscow. But why send her there?

Not that it's so much better from Martha's point of view, but why not go for a more Western country? Or at least a country with a non-Cyrillic alphabet?

Why not at least give her a choice?

Re: Why Moscow?

[jae]

I think it's because it's only in the Soviet Union that they can really keep her relatively safe. Even another Eastern Bloc country would have some autonomy that would make Martha's life arguably far more dangerous from there on out.

Also, Moscow's a big city. If you have to be an urban adult American forcibly living in the Eastern Bloc in the early 1980s, it's a lot better than many of the alternatives.

-J

[shapinglight]

Man, that was powerful.

I have been trying to savour these episodes for as long as possible and not watch them all in a big rush, but I had to go straight on to this episode from the last one, and it didn't disappoint in the slightest.

Very much agree with whoever it was above who said that Philip telling Martha the truth about him coming to join her was ultimately the kindest thing he's ever done for her.

I also worried that Martha would overhear the P&E conversation where Philip told Elizabeth he loved her. I'm sure in a lesser drama he would have.

Eavesdropping

[sistermagpie]

I also worried that Martha would overhear the P&E conversation where Philip told Elizabeth he loved her. I'm sure in a lesser drama he would have.

IKR? There's so many times where they don't go there at all. Because ultimately playing the story by letting the characters make their own choices and live with them instead of contriving for things for extra drama. It's much more powerful to have Martha go off living with whatever Philip chose to tell her, and Philip living with that too. Does Martha really believe him? We'll never know what's in her heart of hearts, but she needs that narrative to go forward.